The Hemisphere: Remember La Coubre

Under a hot Caribbean sun at 3 p.m.
one day last week, stevedores on Havana's eastern waterfront bent to a
task of No. 1 priority in Fidel Castro's Cuba. In the holds of the
4,310-ton French freighter La Coubre, were 76 tons of Belgian artillery
shells, grenades and small arms ammunition. Most of it never reached
its destination. At that hour, a shuddering blast rocked the vessel,
hurling exploding shells, steel deck plates and human fragments aloft
in a pillar of fire.

A second munitions ship quickly cast off, was towed out of the danger
area.
Firemen worked close to the burning...